Topics

A funeral will be held Monday for the London pizza pioneer whose death is drawing global attention.

Sam Panopoulos, who in a 1962 flash of inspiration invented pineapple-infused Hawaiian pizza, died suddenly at University Hospital June 8.

He was 82.

He’s survived by Christina, his wife of 50 years, two children and several other loved ones. But a combination of dough, cheese and pineapple slices will also be his legacy.

“We’d never seen a pizza before. We didn’t know what we were doing,” the Greece native told The Free Press in a 2010 interview, recalling his time owning a Chatham restaurant, the Satellite, in the ’60s.

At the time, pizza was still a novelty, especially in mid-sized communities like Chatham.

“I said ‘let’s put some pineapple on it’ and all of a sudden we were doing big business,” he said, adding with a laugh: “It was an invention by accident.”

While Hawaiian pizza has divided pizza purists over the years — some love it, some hate it — there’s worldwide consensus that Panopoulos created it.

His death has drawn international attention, with the BBC, Sky News, Daily Mail and Huffington Post among the news outlets covering it.

“He was a great guy,” a nephew said this weekend.

In 1954, Panopoulos, then 20, immigrated to Canada. He ran several restaurants with his brothers, including the Family Circle eatery on Wellington Road in London.

“Fiercely loyal and protective, his candid and frank sense of humour, his booming laugh and blunt honesty will be missed by his family, friends, former employees and customers,” an obituary reads.

The funeral is scheduled 11 a.m. Monday at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church at 133 Southdale Rd. W.